Clarksville, Tennessee Mayor, John Piper sent an amazing anti-Islam email to public officials including every City Council member, every department head, and numerous other city employees, friends and family members. The email urges "patriotic Americans" to protest a U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating two Islamic holidays.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, the stamp in question commemorates the two most important festivals—or eids—in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. On these days, Muslims wish each other “Eid mubarak,” the phrase featured in Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. “Eid mubarak” translates literally as “blessed festival,” and can be paraphrased as “May your religious holiday be blessed.” This phrase can be applied to both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. (Clarksville Online)
This stamp was first issued in 2001 with a 34–cent denomination, and with the same design, a 37–cent denomination in 2002, 39–cent denomination in 2006, 41–cent denomination in 2007, and 42–cent denomination in 2008.
But. the mayor says: "REMEMBER to adamantly & vocally BOYCOTT this stamp, when you are purchasing your stamps at the post office. All you have to say is, No thank you, I don't want that Muslim stamp on my letters. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors." (Full text of the email.)
"I don't see any reason why it would be inappropriate," Mayor Piper said in The Leaf Chronicle. "I read it and thought about the bombings of our buildings, of our national buildings," Piper said. "In my mind, it presented an image of mass death at the hands of Muslims."
He added later, "I don't believe, just for the record, that all Muslims are linked together with radical Muslims that are out to harm Americans ... I have several good Muslim friends."
I am all in favor of free speech. And, when you make personal statements on your own time with your own email account, you should be free to say anything that you want -- no matter how offensive.
But, if you are using city computers, on city time, to city email addresses, can offensive statements constitute misuse of city computing resources?
Probably, the only recourse will be by the voters in the ballot box. I just hope that the next election is really soon.
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